The federal authorities is dealing with mounting strain to research the importation of endangered monkeys for medical analysis in Quebec, after a United States probe allegedly prompted a pharmaceutical large to sharply improve its imports north of the border.
The inflow of long-tailed macaques from Cambodia, which the U.S. alleges are being illegally captured from the wild, has animal advocates, researchers and opposition politicians sounding the alarm over animal welfare and potential public-health dangers.
The newest push comes from the federal NDP, which is urging Ottawa to carry “rapid consideration” to the problem.
Investigators within the U.S. legal professional’s workplace within the Southern District of Florida indicted eight individuals in November 2022, together with two senior Cambodian officers, over what they described as “a number of felonies for his or her position in bringing wild long-tailed macaques into the USA.” No expenses have been introduced towards the corporate or any of its officers and the corporate has stated it is going to absolutely co-operate with the U.S. investigation.
Three months later, Charles River Laboratories, a world large primarily based in Massachusetts, introduced it had been subpoenaed within the case — and that it was halting its imports of macaques into the nation.
At across the identical time, imports of monkeys from Cambodia into Canada dramatically surged.
Canada imported 4,789 stay primates from Cambodia in 2023. Statistics Canada information present that is almost a 500 per cent improve from the 12 months earlier than.
The market worth of the importation of this unique animal jumped from $14.5 million in 2022 to greater than $84.4 million the following 12 months, based on StatCan, a roughly 600 per cent surge.
A number of researchers monitoring the importation of primates into Canada advised The Canadian Press that to their understanding, the one kind of monkey being imported from Cambodia is the long-tailed macaque. The entire shipments from Cambodia in 2022 and 2023 had been destined for Quebec, the place Charles River Laboratories has its solely facility in Canada, a sprawling campus in Montreal.
Surroundings and Local weather Change Canada, the federal division chargeable for monitoring business commerce in wildlife, confirmed that 1,980 macaques price almost $40 million have come into Canada on three chartered flights thus far this 12 months.
Charles River Laboratories didn’t reply questions concerning the U.S. investigation, the variety of macaques it’s bringing into Canada and allegations that monkeys could have been captured from the wild. It beforehand denied any wrongdoing within the U.S. In an early 2023 earnings report, the agency stated “issues raised with respect to the corporate’s conduct are with out benefit.”
In a written assertion to The Canadian Press, the corporate didn’t deny that it’s behind the surge in imports, however stated it’s dedicated to lowering using animals in experiments as a lot as it could possibly.
The corporate famous that international regulatory businesses require medicine to be examined on animals earlier than human use to make sure sufferers’ security. It stated utilizing non-human primates, medically generally known as NHPs, has performed a major position in remedy of various ailments akin to most cancers, Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, hypertension, diabetes and vaccines, together with for COVID-19.
“Our work is a vital part of the analysis that has led to those discoveries and has performed a significant position in medical advances for people in addition to animals,” the assertion learn.
“Canada is a world chief for its stringent safety of animal and human well being in using NHPs in medical analysis,” it added. “Charles River is deeply dedicated to animal welfare and exceeding worldwide requirements for the care of analysis fashions below our stewardship.”
The inflow of monkeys into Canada, and its connection to the Charles River Laboratories web site in Canada, was the topic of a Toronto Star investigation in March of this 12 months alongside Southeast Asia Globe, with help from the Pulitzer Middle’s Rainforest Investigations Community.
The shipments haven’t stopped coming, with the Canadian Transportation Company confirming a fourth flight is because of arrive subsequent week. The scenario has drawn the eye of the federal NDP, which is demanding motion from the Liberal authorities.
Final week, three New Democrat members of Parliament wrote to a gaggle of ministers naming the corporate and requesting “rapid consideration” on the problem.
“The unlawful importation of endangered macaques … has uncovered important gaps in Canada’s enforcement of its environmental and transportation laws,” reads the letter obtained by The Canadian Press.
The MPs are demanding a response on “steps being taken to handle these severe violations and forestall future occurrences,” and say that an upcoming Nov. 7 cargo ought to be halted and lift issues over “each our ecosystems and public security.”
Canada banned using animals for beauty testing final 12 months, however it’s authorized to make use of stay primates for drug testing functions.
The federal authorities insists no legal guidelines are being damaged, saying Surroundings and Local weather Change Canada and the Canadian Meals Inspection Company are intently inspecting the animals that come into the nation.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau just lately met along with his Cambodian counterpart on the sidelines of a regional summit in Laos. Trudeau’s workplace didn’t reply to questions on whether or not he was conscious of the monkey imports or raised the problem within the assembly.
The NDP letter follows an Animal Alliance of Canada letter to the surroundings minister in August, urging the rapid suspension of monkey importation from Cambodia.
“We have been saying that Canada ought to be following the lead of the U.S. and halting the commerce of long-tailed macaques from Cambodia till we might be assured” that they don’t seem to be taken from the wild, stated Twyla Francois, the group’s analysis and training supervisor.
She added the morality of utilizing the monkeys for drug testing is questionable. Macaques had been labeled as endangered by the Worldwide Union for Conservation of Nature in 2022, as a result of quickly declining numbers.
They’re sensible animals, stated Francois. “There’s the higher subject of recognizing that these animals are sentient, they’ve advanced emotional lives, and but they’re the species that we’re subjecting to the best ache classes of analysis in Canada.”
Michael Schillaci, an anthropology professor and primatologist on the College of Toronto, stated he and others who examine primates imagine experimentation on monkeys is “immoral,” and “not one thing that Canada ought to be engaged in.”
There are actual security issues, too, he stated: whereas captive-born animals are often raised in a pathogen-free surroundings, it’s tough to evaluate what sort of pathogens wild monkeys might be carrying.
He stated if wild monkeys are being introduced in for analysis, that would pose a severe public-health danger for people.
South of the border, primatologist and activist Lisa Jones-Engel stated she has been dissatisfied to see Canada just isn’t making use of the identical degree of scrutiny because the U.S.
Jones-Engel, who works as senior science adviser for primate experimentation on the non-profit Folks for the Moral Therapy of Animals, stated Cambodia appeared to step in as a provider after China stopped sending monkeys abroad through the COVID-19 pandemic.
“It was very clear that it was biologically unimaginable for the variety of monkeys popping out of Cambodia to have been bred in captivity,” she stated, pointing to the U.S. authorities’s conclusions.
The Cambodian consulate in Toronto didn’t reply to a request for remark.
Jones-Engel added current developments in medical know-how have introduced viable alternate options to animal testing, akin to stem-cell analysis and 3D tissue cultures that permit researchers to simulate the mechanics of organs or organ programs — often known as an organ-on-a-chip.
Surroundings and Local weather Change Canada stated officers rigorously and intently examine imports of overseas animals to make sure compliance with federal and worldwide wildlife laws.
Spokesperson Samantha Bayard stated each the Surroundings Division and the Canadian Meals Inspection Company inspected all macaques on the three flights which have arrived in Canada thus far this 12 months.
“As of at present, no non-compliance has been detected,” Bayard stated. “Whether it is decided that macaques (or every other non-human primates) have been harvested, traded, or transported illegally into Canada, ECCC enforcement officers will take acceptable motion in accordance with the publicly accessible compliance and enforcement coverage for wildlife laws.”
She stated the federal authorities is conscious of the continued investigation within the U.S. and continues to observe the scenario intently.
The corporate did not reply to a request for detailed specifics on what occurs to the person animals after they arrive in Quebec.
Jones-Engel stated that sometimes, monkeys which can be used for pharmaceutical analysis are first quarantined, then experimented on in a course of that may take months or longer. Lastly, they’re euthanized in order that researchers can study the results of the medicine on their tissues and organs.
It implies that as quickly because the monkeys are loaded onto a aircraft of their residence nation, their lives are successfully forfeit, stated Jones-Engel.
“It’s a one-way ticket. … There is no such thing as a going residence again to their forests or their households,” she stated. “The top for these monkeys is in a pink biohazard bag tossed into an incinerator.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first printed Oct. 30, 2024.
